The last four decades have witnessed developmental changes in pharmacy education in Nigeria. The paradigm change in the role of the pharmacist from a product-oriented to patient-oriented focus requires that the overall education of pharmacists be reorganized to meet the increasing changing roles. Curricular of schools of pharmacy in Nigeria are continually reviewed with the aim of attaining the dynamic competency required to reflect the paradigm shift in service focus and the development of the necessary clinical skills that will enable pharmacists to identify and meet the increasingly complex medication needs of patients. This review focuses on the historical development of pharmacy education from one school of pharmacy in the 1920s to about twenty schools 40 years later. The study looked at the continuous efforts made to produce the pharmacist with the requisite competency for the ever-changing roles in meeting the dynamic and varied needs of patients.

Objective: This study was aimed to compare the efficacy between long-acting beta 2-agonists and leukotriene receptor antagonists as add-on therapy to inhaled corticosteroids in moderate persistent asthma.
Materials and Methods: This study was carried out at the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, in Coimbatore. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics committee of the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital. Patients with asthma in the outpatient respiratory department were included in the study. Out of 100 patients, 46 patients received the combination product, budesonide 400 µg and formoteral fumarate 6µg as an inhaled dose and this group was named group A. The other group had 44 patients and was prescribed oral montelukast 10 mg along with budesonide 400 µg as an inhaled dose. This group was called group B. The parameters recorded included, pulmonary function test reports, MBDS (Modified Borg's Dyspnea Scale). The quality of life was evaluated both before and after the treatment period by the SGRQ (St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire).
Results: The two groups, group A and group B were assessed for pulmonary activity. The initial results of the score (MBDS) were 3.3 ± 0.12 and 3.2 ± 0.13 for group A and group B, respectively. Scores were reduced to 0.19 ± 0.08 and 0.35 ± 0.08 respectively after one month of therapy. For group A, the mean values for forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ), peak expiratory flow (PEF) and forced vital capacity (FVC) before treatment were 1.4 ± 0.1, 3.2 ± 0.33 and 1.8 ± 0.18, respectively, whereas after treatment the values were 2 ± 0.14, 5.2 ± 0.41 and 2.4 ± 0.17. For group B the mean FEV 1 , PEV and FVC, before and after therapy were 1.2 ± 0.1 - 1.8 ± 0.17; 3.1 ± 0.3 - 5.4 ± 0.42; 1.8 ± 0.17 - 2.4 ± 0.22 respectively.
Conclusions: In our conclusion, we suggest that a montelukast is as effective as formoterol fumarate for add-on therapy to budesonide in moderate persistent asthma. Hence, montelukast can be considered an alternate therapeutic option for such patients. The results of this study are expected to provide physicians with clinical evidence to help them make a rational decision when treating patients with moderate persistent asthma.

Introduction: Healthcare students are generally not exposed in the school curriculum to the workings of electronic health records (EHRs) and the types of patient health information (PHI) from EHRs that are relevant to clinical practices. A prototype virtual patient record (VPR) mobile app was created on two Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets to educate pharmacy students on the types of PHI available from EHRs.
Materials and Methods: A pilot study was conducted from March-April 2013, whereby students used the app to solve counseling case scenarios. Respondents' demographics, mobile app usage patterns, perceptions regarding the app's usefulness, and its relevance as an EHR simulation tool, were determined through an online 14-item survey. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze the results.
Results: Response rate was 100% (n = 31). Medical and healthcare apps were most commonly used (93.5%), and 67.7% of students used apps more than 5 times a day over the past 6 months. The app had 4 features ("PHR", "Case Questions", "Statutes" and "Useful Links"). Most students felt that the app features were understandable and self-explanatory (96.7%). Majority agreed that "PHR" (100%) and "Case Questions" (83.9%) were the most useful features. Majority (90.3%) found the app useful as a teaching aid.
Conclusion: A VPR app has been successfully created and implemented as a teaching aid. Future development will involve migrating its features to the mobile web. Resources for health-related and medication-related information will be added. Furthermore, the app will be introduced to lower-year undergraduates before their hospital preceptorship attachments.

Objective: The study was to determine the Sudanese pharmacy students' opinions and to measure their satisfaction about education instructions and to reveal their impact on the future carrier. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted by using pretested self-administered questionnaire among final year pharmacy students in Sudan. Results: A total of 455 students from both public and private colleges were participated in the study. Combined one-way direct with interactive method was dominant (74.5%) and was preferred by (74.3%). The English was the major instruction language (62.9%), which was preferred by (66.6%) of the participants. More than 3-quarters of the students had chosen the pharmacy as first choice. Students believed that pharmacy provides good future career. There was a significant association between the students' satisfaction about choosing pharmacy as career and current academic performance (P = 0.004). Conclusion: The obtained results provide an insight into students' opinions on different issues concerning pharmacy education instructions. These data could be utilized as an indicator of the general trends and a guideline for improving pharmacy education in Sudan.

Objective: To assess the pattern of prescribing and drug therapy problems among the pregnant mothers in Hiwot Fana specialized University hospital, Harar Ethiopia.
Methods and subjects: Retrospective cross-sectional study was employed to assess drug prescribing pattern and teratogenicity risk among pregnant women who received any clinical services from MCH and obstetric clinic from 11 September 2012 to 31April 2013.
Result: From a total of 422 samples selected, medical records of 395 pregnant women's were included in the study; where about 27 of the patient card was not found during data collection. Among the 395 pregnant mothers, 301 (76.2%) were outpatient and 94(23.8%) were admitted. one hundred thirty eight (34.9%) are in age group of 21-25 and one hundred twenty five (31.6%) were third trimesters. Most frequently prescribed drug classes were antibiotics, vitamins and minerals, NSAIDS and analgesics, anti-hypertensive's, cardio vascular drugs and fluids.
Category D and X drugs which were considered to be risky to both pregnant women and fetus were prescribed for 42 (13.08%) pregnant women. From the study participant, 169 (42.8%) had drug therapy problem. One hundred eleven (28.1%) had need of additional drug therapy while 52 (13.2%) had unnecessary drug therapy and 11(2.8%), 24 (6.1%) had high and low dosage respectively.
Conclusion: Antibiotics were commonly prescribed along vitamins and minerals while there were (13.08%) category D and category X drugs prescribed inappropriately to some of the patients. Such inappropriate prescription of drugs should not be underestimated because it definitely affects the life of both the mother and the fetus.

Objective: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication during pregnancy and if not managed properly, it can lead to many harmful effects on mother or fetus/baby. Management of GDM largely depends on patient's thoughts, perception and understanding of disease. This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and treatment satisfaction of GDM patients toward their disease.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted during the period of month July 2013 at Penang General Hospital, Penang, Malaysia. The sample consists of 30 established patients of GDM who were diagnosed at least 1 month prior to enrolment. Data were collected by means of self-designed Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Knowledge Questionnaire, modified version of Diabetes Integration Scale (ATT-19) and Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was used for data elaboration by using SPSS 20.
Results: The results showed that of 30 patients, 23 patients (76.6%) had adequate knowledge. Only, 7 (23.3%) patients had inadequate knowledge. For attitude, 23 (76.66%) of patients had a negative attitude toward disease and only 7 (23.3%) had a positive attitude. In terms of satisfaction, 25 (83.33%) patients were satisfied with the given treatment and 5 (16.66%) were unsatisfied.
Conclusion: We conclude that although participants obtained good score on knowledge and treatment satisfaction, their attitude did not change so as to more effectively cope with their disease.

Clinical pharmacy practice is undergoing unprecedented changes as standard profession of pharmacy practice by means of pharmaceutical care. Although, the clinical pharmacy is well recognized in developed countries, but the implementation of clinical pharmacy practice is still at nascent stage in developing countries. Hence, this article is focused on the variations in implementation of clinical pharmacy education and practice in developing countries, specially focusing on highly populous countries like India and Pakistan perspectives.